Proactive Monitoring Programs

The City of San José has a long history of conducting and supporting water quality monitoring in our local creeks, rivers, sloughs, and the Bay. Each monitoring project is designed to assess habitat and water quality conditions. Through monitoring, the City knows how conditions change in response to actions that the City has taken to prevent pollution or restore stream health. Monitored parameters include water and sediment toxicity, metals, pesticides, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, habitat structure, and many other parameters.

Monitoring Practices

Monitoring is done on many scales to answer different questions about the human impact on our waterways. The City contributes to the San Francisco Bay Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) which monitors conditions in San Francisco Bay. More locally focused watershed monitoring is done collaboratively through the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program (SCVURPPP). This county-wide program unites 13 municipalities including San José, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and Santa Clara County to work collaboratively on urban watershed protection and monitoring.

The City also conducts local water quality monitoring of stormwater pump stations, Pond A18 and the surrounding slough, and the Lower South San Francisco Bay in compliance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits and other regulatory requirements.